August h



(No Model.)

A. H. STANGB.

Doon,

Patented Jan 29 1895 ur A Nifrnn STATES AUGUST H. STANGE, OF MERRILL, WISCONSIN.

DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 533,203, dated January 29, 1895. Application filed September 11, 1894. Serial No. 522.718. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, AUGUST H. STANGE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Merrill, in the county of Lincoln and State of Wis-s consin, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Doors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the construction of panel doors of the class in which the transverse rails and stiles are secured together by tenons entering blind mortises.

Doors of this class possess advantages over those in which the mortises extend entirely through the stiles, for the reason first that the strips from which the tenen-ended rails are formed maybe shorter, thus effectinga saving in lumber quite material where the manufacture is carried on upon a large scale; and, second, the edges of the stiles present plane surfaces unbroken by the appearance of the ends of the tenons, thereby rendering the edges less diiicult to dress down, in fitting the door to its casing, and enhancing 'the appearance of the door.

It is usual to fasten the tenon-ended rails p in the mortises of the stiles with glue. In factories where the doors are made in large num bers, and rapidity in turning themout is a matter essential to the profits, it is of serious consequence that the doors be handled at once after being put together and Without waiting for the glue to set. Moreover, it would be a matter of more or less difficulty to lit the parts and glue them together, without their spreading apart in places, unless some fastening means were employed to hold the tenons in the mortises While the glue is becoming set.

My object is to provide fastening means of an improved construction for holding the rails and Stiles of a door lirmly together (whether or not the parts are also glued), which may be quickly and easily applied and be particularly economical and eective. t

To these ends my invention consists in providing a longitudinally extending slit in the end of each tenon, anda wedge in the base of each mortise to enter and engage the slit, as theparts are squeezed together, and bind the free end of the tenen against the walls of the, mortise.

In the drawings-Figure lis a door, the up` is caused to enter the mortise,

per corner-portions of which are broken away to show the application of my improvement; Fig. 2, an enlarged broken section on line 2 of Fig. l; Fig. 3, a cross section of a stile showing the mortise; Fig. 4, a broken cross-section of the end-portion of a rail showing the slitted tenen; and Fig. 5, a cross-section of the wedge as I prefer to provide it. d

A is a door consisting of the stiles t t, toplrail s, bottom-rail s', intermediate rails S2 s2,

muntin srd and panels s4.

The rails are all provided, at each end, with the usual tenon r and in the end of the tenons I provide longitudinally extending recesses or slits r'. The blind mortises q in the stiles I form of a depth somewhat in excess of that of the tenons, the preferred relative proportions being as indicated in the figures.

B is a Wedge approximating in length the length of the mortise and tenon, and provided preferably with a head-portion p, shoulder p',

and tapering tongue p2. The head portion.

p is of a size in cross-section equal to that of the mortise placed.

In practice a wedge B is placed in each mortise, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the engagement of the headp with the walls of the mortise operating to position the point of the wedge at the center of the mortise, whereby when the tenon is passed into the mortise the point will enter the slit fr and not be upset by contact with the end of the tenon. As the parts are squeezed or driven together the bifurcated end of the tenon is expanded by the Wedge to indent itself into the walls of the mortise, as indicated at in Fig. 2.

By having the head p the full size of the mortise, especially when pine and other soft wood is employed, there is no danger of the wedge, at its large end, being pressed into the wood at the base of the mortise. The wedge should be placed in position before the tenon and not passed in with the tenon, because should the wedge meet with any, obstruction, as by binding against the walls of the mortise, it would expand the tenon prematurely and makeit difficult, if not impossible, to bring the meeting edges of the rail and stile together.

To prevent splintering of the edges of the tenon, I prefer to bevel or round them off as approximately in which it is IOO in the walls of the mortise. The indentations v thus form shoulders, and any strain in the direction of drawing the tenon out of the inortise would tend only to bind the parts more irmly together. Thus even Without the employment of glue my improvement affords a secure fastening which will prevent spreading of the joints of the door.

In the manufacture of doors, tenons have been fastened in blind mortises by recessing the mortises at opposite ends, across the'grain of the wood, and expanding the tenons therein with wedges driven into and crosswise of the tenons. My improvement obviates the necessity of forming dov'et'ail mortises in the stiles and, besides, forms a much more secure fastening. When dovetail mortises, formed as described, are employed, only the opposite narrow edge-portions of the tenons are expanded,and as they extend across the grain of the wood they do not indent themselves in the mortise ends. Thus they offer comparatively little frictional resistance against withdrawal of the tenons. In my improved construction the side edges of the tenons are exn panded in a linewith the grain of the wood of the stile, whereby they indent themselves in the latter along the full length of the tenon.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In a door, fastening means between a rail and stile thereof, comprising a blind mortise in the stile, a tenon on the rail fitting said mortise and provided with a longitudinally extending recess 0" in its end, and a wedge in the base of the mortise, and extending longitudinally thereof, to enter the said recess and expand the end-portion of t-he tenon laterally to indent it at its opposite longitudinally extending sides in the `mortise wall, in a line with the grain of the wood thereof substantially 'as described.

2. In a door, fastening means between a rail and stile thereof, comprising a blind-mortise in the stile, a tenon on the rail provided With a recess in its end, and a wedge havi'nga beveled tongue and a head to 'it the base of the vmortise and position the tongue, whereby as the tenon entersthe vmortise its recess 'receives the tongue of the wedge, andthe tenon is expanded at its end-portion, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

AUGUST II. STANGE.

In lpresence of- WEsLEY D. MARTIN, JOHN G. WEN'ZEL. 

